This book is a treatise on the thermodynamic and dynamic properties of thin liquid films at solid surfaces and, in particular, their rupture instabilities. For the quantitative study of these phenomena, polymer thin films (sometimes referred to as “ultrathin”) have proven to be an invaluable experimental model system. What is it that makes thin film instabilities special and interesting? First, thin polymeric films have an important range of applications. An understanding of their instabilities is therefore of practical relevance for the design of such films. The first chapter of the book intends to give a snapshot of current applications, and an outlook on promising future ones. Second, thin liquid films are an interdisciplinary research topic, which leads to a fairly heterogeneous community working on the topic. It justifies attempting to write a text which gives a coherent presentation of the field which researchers across their specialized communities might be interested in. Finally, thin liquid films are an interesting laboratory for a theorist to confront a well-established theory, hydrodynamics, with its limits. Thin films are therefore a field in which a highly fruitful exchange and collaboration exists between experimentalists and theorists. The book stretches from the more concrete to more abstract levels of study: we roughly progress from applications via theory and experiment to rigorous mathematical theory. For an experimental scientist, the book should serve as a reference and guide to what is the current consensus of the theoretical underpinnings of the field of thin film dynamics. Controversial problems on which such a consensus has not yet been reached are clearly indicated in the text, as well as discussed in a final chapter. From a theoretical point of view, the field of dewetting has mainly been treated in a mathematically ‘light’ yet elegant fashion, often making use of scaling arguments. For the untrained researcher, this approach is not always easy to follow. The present book attempts to bridge between the ‘light’ and the ‘rigorous’, always with the ambition to enhance insight and understanding - and to not let go the elegance of the theory.

Falling Liquid Films gives a detailed review of state-of-the-art theoretical, analytical and numerical methodologies, for the analysis of dissipative wave dynamics and pattern formation on the surface of a film falling down a planar inclined substrate. This prototype is an open-flow hydrodynamic instability, that represents an excellent paradigm for the study of complexity in active nonlinear media with energy supply, dissipation and dispersion. It will also be of use for a more general understanding of specific events characterizing the transition to spatio-temporal chaos and weak/dissipative turbulence. Particular emphasis is given to low-dimensional approximations for such flows through a hierarchy of modeling approaches, including equations of the boundary-layer type, averaged formulations based on weighted residuals approaches and long-wave expansions. Whenever possible the link between theory and experiment is illustrated, and, as a further bridge between the two, the development of order-of-magnitude estimates and scaling arguments is used to facilitate the understanding of basic, underlying physics. This monograph will appeal to advanced graduate students in applied mathematics, science or engineering undertaking research on interfacial fluid mechanics or studying fluid mechanics as part of their program. It will also be of use to researchers working on both applied, fundamental theoretical and experimental aspects of thin film flows, as well as engineers and technologists dealing with processes involving isothermal or heated films. This monograph is largely self-contained and no background on interfacial fluid mechanics is assumed.

This comprehensive reference provided a systematic examination of both the theory and applications of thin liquid films - giving a critical review of major concepts and unresolved or controversial problems, as well as revealing experimental methods. It includes results previously unpublished. Combining the work of 20 leading researchers, Thin Liquid Films furnishes a fundamental overview of thermodynamics of thin liquid films. Generously illustrated with equations, tables and drawling and containing more than 2,200 citations to pertinent literature, this is an authoritative reference for physical, surface, and colloid chemists, biophysicists and physicists; chemical engineers and advanced graduate students in chemistry, chemical engineering, biophysics and physics.

The word tribology was fIrst reported in a landmark report by P. Jost in 1966 (Lubrication (Tribology)--A Report on the Present Position and Industry's Needs, Department of Education and Science, HMSO, London). Tribology is the science and technology of two interacting surfaces in relative motion and of related subjects and practices. The popular equivalent is friction, wear and lubrication. The economic impact of the better understanding of tribology of two interacting surfaces in relative motion is known to be immense. Losses resulting from ignorance of tribology amount in the United States alone to about 6 percent of its GNP or about $200 billion dollars per year (1966), and approximately one-third of the world's energy resources in present' use, appear as friction in one form or another. A fundamental understanding of the tribology of the head-medium interface in magnetic recording is crucial to the future growth of the $100 billion per year information storage industry. In the emerging microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) industry, tribology is also recognized as a limiting technology. The advent of new scanning probe microscopy (SPM) techniques (starting with the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope in 1981) to measure surface topography, adhesion, friction, wear, lubricant-fIlm thickness, mechanical properties all on a micro to nanometer scale, and to image lubricant molecules and the availability of supercomputers to conduct atomic-scale simulations has led to the development of a new fIeld referred to as Microtribology, Nanotribology, or Molecular Tribology (see B. Bhushan, J. N. Israelachvili and U.

This multi-authored volume provides a comprehensive and in-depth account of the highly interdisciplinary science and technology of liquid film coating. The book covers fundamental principles from a wide range of scientific disciplines, including fluid mechanics aand transport phenomena, capillary hydrodynamics, surface and colloid science. The authors, all acknowledged eperts in their fields, represent a balance between industrial and academic points of view. Throughout the text, many case studies illustrate how scientific principles together with advanced experimental and theoretical methods are applied to develop and optimize manufacturing processes of eve increasing sophiatication and efficiency. In the first part of the book, the authors systematically recount the underlying physical principles and important material properties. The second part of the book gives a comprehensive overview of the most advanced experimental, mathematical and computational methods available today to investigate coating processes. The third part provides an overview and critical literature review for all major classes of liquid film coating processes of industrial importance.

Ch. 1. Block copolymer thin films / J.-Y. Wang, S. Park and T. P. Russell -- ch. 2. Equilibration of block copolymer films on chemically patterned surfaces / G. S. W. Craig, H. Kang and P. F. Nealey -- ch. 3. Structure formation and evolution in confined cylinder-forming block copolymers / G. J. A. Sevink and J. G. E. M. Fraaije -- ch. 4. Block copolymer lithography for magnetic device fabrication / J. Y. Cheng and C. A. Ross -- ch. 5. Hierarchical structuring of polymer nanoparticles by self-organization / M. Shimomura ... [et al.] -- ch. 6. Wrinkling polymers for surface structure control and functionality / E. P. Chan and A. J. Crosby -- ch. 7. Crystallization in polymer thin films: morphology and growth / R. M. Van Horn and S. Z. D. Cheng -- ch. 8. Friction at soft polymer surface / M. K. Chaudhury, K. Vorvolakos and D. Malotky -- ch. 9. Relationship between molecular architecture, large-strain mechanical response and adhesive performance of model, block copolymer-based pressure sensitive adhesives / C. Creton and K. R. Shull -- ch. 10. Stability and dewetting of thin liquid films / K. Jacobs, R. Seemann and S. Herminghaus -- ch. 11. Anomalous dynamics of polymer Films / O. K. C. Tsui.